The issues addressed
by the Arsenic-Treated Wood Mandatory Labeling Act (S. 877) remaining
vitally important after the latest round of negotiation between the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Wood Preservers Institute (AWPI)
to produce a new Consumer Awareness Program (CAP) for pressure-treated
wood. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced S. 877 on May 14, 2001, currently
cosponsored by Senators Dodd (D-CT), Kennedy (D-MA) and Boxer (D-CA),
that requires all wood treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA) be
affixed with a warning label (click here for information about S.877).

The new voluntary
agreement between EPA and AWPI fails to list the health effects linked
to exposure to arsenic that include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, decreased
red and white blood cell counts, abnormal heart rhythm as well as cancer
of the skin, lung, bladder, liver and kidney. S. 877 requires that information
be included on the warning label. An even larger problem with the EPA/AWPI
agreement is that it remains voluntary and therefore does not provide
EPA with any authority to enforce the CAP. Click here for: 1) information
about AWPI's new CAP proposal, 2) EPA's suggestions to AWPI for improving
the proposed CAP, 3) EPA's press release announcing the agreement with
AWPI.

EPA has once again
announced a delay in its continued effort to work through the reevaluation
process on the heavy-duty wood preservatives including CCA, pentachlorophenol
and creosote. In May, 2001 the agency bowed to political pressure, deciding
to pull out one piece of the larger preliminary risk assessment on CCA.
Specifically, EPA stated that it would work to publish the children's
risk assessment from exposure to CCA-treated wood in July for public comment.
The latest statement from EPA is that the children's risk assessment will
not be available until mid-September. Beyond Pesticides encourages all
interested parties to comment on EPA's preliminary risk assessment of
children exposed to CCA when it becomes available, and to contact their
Congress people urging their support for S. 877.